Friluftsliv: The Scandinavian Philosophy of Outdoor Life

8/9/2019 Friluftsliv: The Scandinavian Philosophy of Outdoor Life

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Friluftsliv: The Scandinavian Philosophy ofOutdoor Life

Hans Gelter, Lule University of Technology, Sweden

Abstract

This paper explores the roots of the Scandinavian outdoorlifestyle offriluftsliv and its philosophical implication as well asits applications for environmental education. Friluftsliv as a phi-losophy is deeply rooted in Norway and Sweden but has lately

obtained a more a superficial meaning by the commercializationof outdoor activities. The philosophy and biology offriluftsliv isexplored showing its importance as a means, in environmentaleducation, to facilitate a true connectedness to the more-than-human world.

Rsum

Cet article explore les racines du style de vie en plein airscandinave connu sous le nom de friluftsliv , ainsi que sesimplications philosophiques et ses applications en ducationrelative lenvironnement. La philosophie du friluftsliv estprofondment enracine dans les socits norvgienne etsudoise, mais sest rcemment superficialise par lacommercialisation des activits de plein air. Lauteur explore lesaspects philosophiques et biologiques du friluftsliv , enmettant en vidence son importance comme moyen dducation

relative lenvironnement en vue de faciliter ltablissementdune relation vridique avec le monde plus-que-humain .

We are in a splendid remote wildernessthe Wind River in northernYukon. Crystal clear water sparkles around us with the marbled river bot-tom several meters below, giving the sensation of our canoe gliding in openair. The strong current and our synchronized paddle strokes carry the canoe

down this Arctic river with a force that creates a deep shiver of pleasure. Thebreathtaking big sky above us, the river valley bordered by magnificentmountains, and the sensation of undisturbed wildlife surrounding us caus-es a deep emotional storm of happiness within, filling my eyes with tears

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a spiritual, almost religious feeling I often experience in nature. This land-scape absorbs me so completely, entering through all of my senses anddirectly touching my limbic system. This gives me a sensation of a total inte-gration with this land; a strong feeling of being at home in a place I have

never visited before. Sensing myself as part of the landscape I experience theprocesses and evolution of this place unfolding itself inside my conscious-ness. I get a strong feeling of knowing the ways of things around me.

The power and intensity of this feeling has always surprised me, as wellas the fact that not everybody experiences the same feelings. Trying to dis-cuss this feeling with people who have never experienced it is difficult, asthey cannot relate such strong feelings to nature. The feeling of being a partof the river or the mountains seems too spiritual to most people. Many of

todays urban people have lost this ability to experience nature in a sub-jective way, seeing the landscape in an objective and disconnected way. Theability to be absorbed by a place is a state of mind, a skill that needs train-ing. Many modern people have lost this ability to give the landscape freeaccess, through open senses, to the limbic system. This limbic systemmakes up the functional centre of human emotions and memory. Sensoryinformation enters the brain here and the higher centre of integration in thecerebrum consults the limbic system for memory retrieving and memory

processing. By electrical stimulation of the limbic system hallucinations, reli-gious experiences, out-of-body experiences, and near-dead experiencescan artificially be created, indicating this systems importance for the expe-rience of reality. Thus it seems as if there is an ability to let the landscapeinteract directly through open senses with the limbic system when inter-preting the world, which can create a strong emotional reactiona reactionwe may experience as spiritual or religious. This has nothing to do with theendorphin and adrenaline rush one can experience in adventure activities.

This spiritual feeling of connectedness to the landscape is probably thedeep experience in Arne Nsss philosophy of Deep Ecology (Sessions,1995). Nss, himself a mountaineer and outdoor person, proposes that adeep experience of nature creates deep feelings leading to deep questionsand a deep commitment for nature (Harding, 1997). This may result in a par-adigm shift in ones way of viewing the world. In Scandinavia we wouldsay that this deep experience of the landscape is the essence and reward ofa lifestyle we call friluftsliv [free-luufts-leav]. The word translates tofree air life meaning a philosophical lifestyle based on experiences of the

freedom in nature and the spiritual connectedness with the landscape.The reward of this connectedness with the landscape is this strong sensa-tion of a new level of consciousness and a spiritual wholeness.

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The essence offriluftsliv is difficult to define. It is a concept that can befound among outdoor people all over the world, but as a specific philoso-phy, and the use of a special word for it, is unique for Scandinavia, especiallyin Norway and Sweden. Herefriluftsliv is deeply rooted in the soul of thepeople although far from everyone practices it. In Norwayfriluftsliv is animportant part of most peoples lives and a way of living close to thebeautiful landscapes of the country. In Sweden and Denmark the wordrecently has obtained a more technical meaning in outdoor activities andhas lost its philosophical dimension.

History ofFriluftsliv

The cultural roots offriluftsliv in Scandinavia come from the self-image ofScandinavians as a nature loving people (Sandell & Srlin, 2000). Thisimage is partly based on these countries unpopulated landscape, whereeven urban people have free nature very close by for recreation. This self-image is also reflected by the unwritten law of Allemansrtten (every-ones-right) in Sweden and Norway that allows everyone access to theland, even private property. The image has its historical origin in the long his-tory of living in this cold Ultima Thule where skies were already used forhunting 5200 years ago. The romantic back-to-nature movement in the 18thcentury, as a reaction against urbanization and industrialization, stronglyinfluences Scandinavian culture. Through music, poetry, and art this nature-loving image was introduced to the upper-class society. SuccessfulScandinavian explorers like Fritjof Nansen, Sven Hedin, Roald Admunsen,Adolf Nordenskild, and others strengthened this image. But the upper classhad no natural connection to nature; they werent hunters, fishers, or farm-ers. Thereforefriluftslivbecame a way to realize the ideas of romanticism, to

reconnect with nature and the old Scandinavian outdoor tradition. Toguide the people back to naturefriluftsliv was organized and developed bythe worlds first tourist organizations (1868 in Norway and 1885 in Sweden),and later (in 1892) the Swedish outdoor organization Friluftsfrmjandet.Their goals were to foster peoples good health through skiing and othernature experiences to better cope with the urban and industrial develop-ment. During wartime,friluftsliv was used to develop and foster strong peo-ple for the defencesimilar to the origin of the Anglo-American Outward

Bound (Miller, 1990). This self-image of a nature-loving people was also rein-forced in the 1930s during the building of the Swedish socialistic fol-hemmet (folk-home). The increased disposable time for the working classhad to be used for healthy recreation in nature, andfriluftsliv was the way.

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Today a strong commercialization creates a never-ending flow of newconsumption-lifestyles for outdoor recreation. Activities and equipment nowovershadow the original goal offriluftsliv to be close to nature. For manypeople nature is becoming an arena (Devall & Sessions, 1985) to test one-self and the equipment. This commercialization excludes many fromfriluft-sliv today because of the high price of gear, the long journeys to the rightplaces, and the expertise needed for many activities is too high. Thisnew trend infriluftsliv is in strong contrast with the essence of the word firstused by Henrik Ibsen in an 1859 poem (Ibsen, 1882). He was sitting in a cot-tage, looking into the stove, and said . . . this is Friluftsliv for my thoughts.The wordfriluftsliv was thus first used to describe a thought, an idea aboutlife. Before Ibsen, the word Frilufts-painting had been used by Theodore

Rousseau and others in poesophy (poetry and philosophy) of the Europeandeep Romantic Movement. In a meeting with the Norwegian Tourist asso-ciation in 1921 Nansen (Dybwad, 1942) talked aboutfriluftsliv as a philos-ophy and as an alternative for youth to avoid tourism, a superficialacquaintance with nature. He spoke about the ability to co-operate withnatures powers and the joy of being in nature. He believed that freenature was our true home and thatfriluftsliv was our way back home.

Friluftsliv as an Activity

Friluftsliv has, through organized activities of early outdoor associations andthrough commercialization, developed from an original way of thinking totodays focus on the activities per se. This focus on activities rather than onthe human relationship to nature has resulted in a modern superficial con-cept offriluftsliv. Outdoor activities in nature, or a superficial wilderness trip,is not enough to obtain the deep experience of connectedness to the more-

than-human world. What then is the original concept of the nature experi-ence we may callgenuine friluftsliv? The wordfriluftsliv implies being in theopen air, the outdoors, thus excluding indoor activities such as indoorclimbing. It also involves free nature. Friluftsliv does not require remoteuntouched wilderness but the more away from the urban lifestyle thegreater the experience. Not required are specific activities in nature. There aremany reasons why people go into nature but most have nothing to do withfriluftsliv. There are aboriginal people who live in nature. In a philosophical

way they live friluftsliv, but the word does not imply an aboriginal life-style. Then there are loggers, farmers, trappers, scientists, wilderness guides,outfitters, and other professionals living in nature. Many aspects of their out-door lives may be common with friluftsliv, but professional goals such as

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exploring, mastering, or conquering nature are not compatible withgenuinefriluftsliv. Thus, it is not living in the outdoors per se that isfriluftsliv. In fact,today most people (but not all) who pursuefriluftsliv are urban people.

One other important reason for being in nature is to explore its

resources. For hunters, fishers, and gatherers of berries and mushrooms,nature is a big storehouse waiting to be utilized, if not plundered. These arepopular recreational activities in Scandinavia and often claimed to befriluftsliv. Allemansrtten gives people the right to pick mushrooms andwild berries everywhere. This right to the land and its resources has, toa great, degree shaped the nature-oriented attitude among Scandinavians.But utilizing the natural resources of the land is not genuine friluftsliv,although great emotional and spiritual experiences may arise through

these activities. Collectors also see nature as a resource to explore for theircollectionsbe it butterflies or beetles, gemstones or plants, or just the list-ing of observed birds. The rarer the specimen, the more valuable to the col-lector. Most collectors possess great knowledge about nature, but birdwatching or collecting shells is notgenuine friluftsliv. Similar groups arenature tourists who, instead of collecting pieces of nature, collect naturalplaces. The more magnificent the place the greater value the experience.Tourists often consume places without beoming emotionally connected with

them, as their purpose is simply to have seen it. Tourists usually needsome degree of civilization and comfort and are not always happy with thenatural conditions in nature. Bad weather or the steepness of a slope are nat-ural features encountered when being outdoors. Fully natural, and accept-ed by the Frilufts-person, they are often reasons for discomfort andcomplaints for the tourist. Friluftsliv involves the unconditional encounterwith nature in the same way as getting to know a person needs an uncon-ditional meeting, and not just a quick look at each other. It requires con-nectedness and participation. By not participating one becomes a spectatorand a consumer. Not participating and connecting with nature makesnature into a museum to observe, to learn from but not to interact with.

Still others visit nature for their curiosity and interest in how natureworks. They want to take apart features in nature to see what they are andhow they work. These are hobby biologists, curious kids, school classes onexcursions, natural scientists etc. They may know much of natures ways,but only learning objectively about nature does not lead to the connect-edness ofgenuine friluftsliv. Other categories of people who regularly visit

nature are those who want to obtain aesthetic values from nature. These arephotographers, painters, or simply spectators of the landscape. They arerarely interested in what kind of species they see or the ecology of the place,



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but rather the aesthetic value of the place. Enjoying the aesthetic value ofnature is an important part offriluftslivbut being a spectator of nature doesnot necessarily create any connectedness. Others use nature as a sacral placefor meditation and reflection. Nature becomes a kind of church or temple

to build new spiritual or religious energy. Similar to these are stressed, urbanpeople who in the silence of nature slow down and regain their energy.Many cottage and motorhome owners belong to this group, having theirwilderness home as a refuge from urban life. Again, to escape urban lifeand gain energy or spiritual power is a very important part offriluftslivbutwithout a deeper connectedness nature becomes just a form of therapy.

A growing group of visitors to nature are the new outdoor-activity peo-ple using nature as a playground. They consume nature as a big coulisse and

arena for their recreation and sport activities, to compete in with them-selves, or others. Most of them claim they pursuefriluftslivbut this is morelike a superficial form offriluftsliv with goals other thangenuine friluftsliv. Hereknowledge of nature, and the place beyond how to master it for the sake ofthe activity, is usually secondary. The preoccupation with the activity and theequipment distract them from the genuine experience offriluftsliv. Althoughgenuine friluftsliv may involve mastering skills like how to travel and surviveeven harsh and dangerous environments with different equipment,genuine

friluftsliv is not about conquering or fighting nature. Similar new types of out-door people claiming they pursuefriluftsliv are motorized. With snowmobiles,ski-dos, water-dos, motor boats, 4x4s, and cross-country motorcycles, they usenature as a playground for their motorized recreation. Driving a motorizedvehicle, be it a car or snowmobile, can never be regarded as friluftsliv asyou disconnect yourself from nature by using the vehicle. Friluftsliv is aboutharmonizing with nature, not disturbing or destroying it. Friluftsliv is not aboutconsuming experiences, places, or resources, although just by being in aplace will change it and resources consumed. Friluftsliv is not to actively seekadventures, although adventures and adrenaline kicks may be a naturalpart offriluftsliv. Infriluftsliv you dont change nature to gain experience ortake control of it, you dont build artificial racetracks, or boulder cliffs. Infriluftsliv you may use nature for food and shelter or for your survival, but notmodify nature to suit the outdoor activity. Friluftsliv is not an activity or activ-ity program with a narrow goal; it is a lifestyle and a philosophy.

Friluftsliv as a Philosophy

Friluftsliv as philosophy is a view of oneself in the more-than-human world,about finding the way back to an old human, biological lifestyle, but in a new

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contextto move from a techno-life to an eco-life, back to our fundamentalbiological ways to relate to nature. In the pre-civilized world humans knewtheir way in nature as a way of survival. In modern urban life these survivalskills are forgotten, and today most urban people only visit nature as

tourists or consumers. Modern people need to re-learn basic skills, not bybooks or instructions, but learn how to relate to the more-than-humanworld by experience. In connection with nature we learn how preciouslife isin sharp contrast with the civilized lifewhere life often is astruggle. Friluftsliv is a paradigm shift away from a dominant objectiveview of nature, toward an emotional identity and a way of living ArneNsss Deep Ecology.

Genuine friluftsliv also provides a social experience that many people in

our urban seculized lives are missing. When pursuingfriluftsliv you oftendo things together with friends, like sitting around the campfire, travellingtogether, sharing experiences, and being dependent on each other. Friluftslivthus recreates the tribal life with the same security of belonging to aninterdependent group. This is a form of human resources and humanwealth we have lost in our urban life, where individuality and survival byyourself is the standard (Quinn, 1997). Friluftsliv fulfils a basic humanneed and thereby creates a sensation of wholeness. This may well be one of

the reasons for the sensation of pleasure sitting around the campfire and justfeeling the strong connectedness within the group and with life.Today, when people have lost their original home, their place in nature,

security in their connectedness with the world and also with a socialgroup, they become insecure and afraid. Fear easily develops into aggres-sion towards foreigners or aggression towards nature and other livingcreatures. This increased aggression is released through hard work, sports,or outdoor recreation activities. Nature often becomes the victim of this cul-tural aggression. If, on the contrary, you feel connected to the more-than-human world, you gain self-esteem, security, and confidence, therebydecreasing cultural aggression. Connectedness to nature creates responsi-bility towards nature and othersa more biophilic lifestyle (Selby, 1996).

Althoughfriluftsliv is a modern escape from urban life to regain phys-ical and psychic strength, it is not a quick fix for social ills through a formof wilderness therapy. Genuine friluftliv is a philosophy about personaldevelopment, thus a lifetime process of growing self-esteem, social capa-bilities and survival skills in, and attitudes towards, the more-than-human

world. Friluftsliv is about love and respect for nature, attitudes one does notlearn reading or teaching, features that can only be learned by experience.For an outdoor person who has reached familiarity and connectedness to



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nature, nature is never wild and scary, and such a person is at home every-where in nature regardless of the place on the planet.

Biology ofFriluftsliv

Why doesgenuine friluftsliv create a deep sensation of connectedness withnature, as well as providing mental and physical pleasure? Here we mustturn to human biology. If we want to find the biological roots forgenuinefriluftsliv we have to look past the origin of Western culture, back to pre-civ-ilized culture, and to the ecological habitat where most of human evolutionhas taken place. Humans have evolved as an integrated part of an ecolog-ical system, in close relationships with other organisms and the environ-ment, and our human characters are evolved as an adaptation to theseecological demands and changes. Humans have followed the same rulesand processes that have shaped other organisms in nature. Only by under-standing these rules and processes that form the life of organisms can wegain an insight and understanding of our own development and nature.

Human nature is thus adapted to a natural habitat, not to todaysurban technological world. The natural setting for human evolution,including the evolution of human senses and the human brain, consists of

fractal structures (Gleick, 1987; Fleishman, Tildesley, & Ball, 1990; Kaufman,1993) of repetitive patterns that never repeat themselves exactly, andrhythms of repetitions. Thus our brain is developed in a fractal world ofrhythms. Fractal stimuli from the natural world harmonize with the stim-uli processing patterns of the brain, creating a sensation of pleasure in suchnatural environments. Having a brain working in harmony with its capac-ity explains the pleasure of looking at the fractal structure of a landscape,the endless fractal structure and rhythm of waves from the ocean, and the

deep pleasure of looking into the dancing flames of a fire.The rhythms of nature include day rhythm, moon rhythm, seasonal

rhythms, etc., as well as rhythms in patterns and structures. When travel-ling in nature for a longer period, these rhythms become a natural part ofour daily life. We even have internal rhythms, biological clocks that areevolved to synchronize with the rhythms of nature. Breaking these naturalrhythms cost energy. Electrical energy is needed to break the rhythms of dayand night. Breaking the seasonal rhythm to create green grass in winter and

ice in summer requires much of energy. Breaking straight roads through thefractal landscape requires energy. Creating monoculture we break thegrowing rhythm, which needs enormous amounts of energy in the formsof fertilizers, pesticides, maintenance, etc. to keep the culture clean.

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David Abram (1996) stresses the importance of the reciprocity betweenour senses and the natural world to create our experienced perception of theworld.

. . . these other shapes and species have coevolved, like ourselves, with therest of the shifting earth; their rhythms and forms are composed of layersupon layers of earlier rhythms, and in engaging them our senses are ledinto an inexhaustible depth that echoes that of our own flesh. (p. 63-64)

In our pre-civilized world this reciprocity of our senses and the naturalworld created a strong subjectivity between the percepted world and thehuman mind, creating the animistic dimension of perception that nowhas been lost in modern urban life. In contrast to the fractal world of

nature, our civilized world is non-fractal consisting of straight lines, flat sur-faces and smooth areasan environment sub-optimal for our mental pro-cessing capabilities. This is causing understimulation, stress andincompatibility in such environments. Humans are adapted to live accord-ing to the natural rhythms, but lately we have constructed artificial, math-ematical rhythms determined by mechanical devices. These new rhythmssplit the day and the year in exact units independent of the events innature. With clock time we have emancipated ourselves from the rhythms

of nature and have violated our biological clocks creating an urban stress,a stress evaporating when returning to the rhythms of nature.After weeks of canoeing the body and mind settle into a natural

rhythm where breathing, pulse and paddle strokes harmonize in a naturalway. Our rhythms not only come from inside of us, they harmonize with thesurrounding landscape, with the current of the river, the sun and light, thewind and waves, and when these rhythms interplay we feel a great pleas-ure of harmony. The same feeling of harmony with the landscape is reachedafter days of trekking, where the pace harmonizes with the internal andexternal environment, and each step is synchronized by our spinal auto pilotso the mind may become absorbed by the landscape. This synchronizationof internal and external rhythms when travelling for an extended time innature is like playing in a samba batucada. When the rhythms are syn-chronized by all the percussion instruments playing takes no effortoneis absorbed by the energy of the rhythm. But as soon as the rhythm dishar-monizes there is a physical and psychic pain and lots of energy and con-centration are required to get the rhythm back into harmony. Suddenly the

rhythm is back and the music swings again, and there is a feeling of adimensional shift to a higher energy level. The music becomes a part ofbody and mind in an internal dance of mental energy and external dance



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of musical energy. The asynchronic rhythms of modern urban life createdisharmonies, creating physical and psychic stress which consume muchenergy. Therefore when returning to nature and livingfriluftsliv we regainthe natural rhythms and feel the energy flow into body and mind, lifting us

to a higher energy level, and to the experience of harmony and happinessjust as in the samba batucada.

Having a brain that after millions of years has developed in a rhyth-mical and fractal world, we feel as coming home when returning tonature, giving the brain the stimuli it was developed for and explaining ourrewarding feelings of harmony in nature. When looking into a fireplace wefeel the flames alive and attracting our attention. No artificial light, like thecold mechanical lifeless light of a flashlight, will ever attract us in the

same way. What is the difference between the dead flashlight and the liv-ing spirit of the flames, if not the fractal rhythms that so much stimulate ourperception? Abram (1996) may have found a biological explanation for ourneed to consume artefacts in our lifeless non-fractal world:

In contrast, the mass-produced artifacts of civilization, . . . draw oursenses into a dance that endlessly reiterates itself without variation. To thesensing body these artifacts are, like all phenomena, animate and evenalive, but their life is profoundly constrained by the specific functions forwhich they were built. Once our bodies master these functions, themachine-made objects commonly teach our senses nothing further; they areunable to surprise us, so we must continually acquire new built objects,new technologies, the latest model of this or that if we wish to stimulateourselves. (p. 64)

In our modern, civilized lifestyle we have also emancipated body andmind. We do physical work in one place, the factory or the gym, and men-tal work in another place, the office or on the sofa with television. When therhythms of the body and mind do not harmonize it creates a non-harmo-

nizing physical or mental tiredness. In contrast, doing a mental and phys-ical task synchronously as infriluftsliv, body and mind harmonize and thetiredness experienced after such a task is as great a pleasure, no matter howfatiguing it was.

We often describe our fundamental needs as primitive, animalistic,or pre-civilized. This view assumes that humans have undergone an evo-lutionary change since the rise of our civilization, from a primitive to adeveloped human, implying that we are biologically different today

than 10 000 years ago. This culturephobic view indicates a lack of evolu-tionary and biological insight. The only difference between people oftoday and those living 10 000 years ago is their fundamental philosophy andcultural context. The time-span in our habitat change from the natural

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setting into the technologically habitat is too short for the evolutionaryprocesses to permit any major biological adaptations. The differences wefind are new behaviours, new attitudes, new language, and new technol-ogy, but we have not changed biologically. Neither basic needs nor our

anatomy, physiology and ontology have changed. Our brains anatomy andfunction are the same as when we lived in the fractal biological world. Sothose primitive needs are not some old remains from a primitive state,they are still human basic needs. So when we return to nature throughfriluftsliv we do not satisfy our primitive needsrather our basic humanneeds. As long as we deny these basic needs our modern human society willnot become a more humane society. As long as we believe that humans canadapt biologically to the technological world we have created from an

anthropocentric scientific philosophy, humans, and human society willsuffer from technological stress.

As clearly stressed by modern environmental philosophy (Sessions,1995; Quinn, 1992, 1997) we cannot return to a primitive pre-civilized cul-ture. Rather we have to recognize basic human needs and use them asgoals for cultural development. Genuine friluftsliv might be a way to letpeople discover the pleasure of fulfilling these basic human needs when bodyand mind harmonises with the natural world, and thus creating a foundation

for a cultural change away from an anthropocentric philosophy. It is there-fore important to clearly make a distinction between the philosophy ofgen-uine friluftsliv and the anthropocentric, superficial kind offriluftsliv wherecompetition, consumption, egoism, and commercialization are its philosophy.

Gardners (1983) description of the seven intelligences is a modern re-discovery of the nature of the human mind as evolved in the biologicalworld. This realization got lost through Greek philosophy, Cartesian dual-ism, and the objectifying scientific focus on logical thought. Gardnersintelligences show a flexible human brain that is needed for adaptation inan socio-ecological environment. The different human intelligences haveevolved and are co-ordinated to optimize human survival in the complexnatural world. Gardners mathematical-logical intelligence (the ability toorganize thoughts sequentially and logically, to analyse and solve problems,to see connections) is the base for the modern scientific secular schooltogether with the verbal-linguistic intelligence (the ability to understand andexpress ideas through language, communicative skills, to tell stories of pastexperiences, to communicate how to solve problems etc.). Taken together

with the visual-spatial intelligence (the ability to learn through images,spatial skills, to estimate distances, etc.), it is easy to understand the impor-tance of these three intelligences for survival in the wilderness. Also of



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great importance in a tribal world (Ross, 1992) are both the interpersonal (theability to notice and make discriminations regarding the moods, tempera-ments, motivations and intentions of others, cooperate, leadership andgroup dynamic skills) and the intrapersonal intelligence (ones access to ones

feelings, skills of visualization, metacognition, reflection and self-analysis).In an evolutionary sense the bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence seems obviousfor the survival in the natural environment. The intelligence of mastering dif-ferent skills and physical activities has a high survival value in the pre-civ-ilized world. The seventh intelligence, the musical-rhythmical sensitivity totone, pitch and rhythm, and the ability to reproduce them do not seem obvi-ous for human survival. But to the hunter the knowledge of alarm calls ofbirds and other animals, and the ability to distinguish and copy different ani-

mal sounds is an important skill. This ability extends the hunters senses toinclude those of other species to determine the presence of prey or predator;thus reading sounds in the environment is a highly evolutionary skill. In ananimistic tribal world the interpretation and sensitivity of rhythms of theinternal and external world, as well as the interpretation and presentationof these in the form of dances and songs, is an important skill for survival(Abram, 1996). By chants, dances, tricks, etc., the shamans interpreted andpresented the ecological conditions for the tribe, which had great importance

for the tribal survival. Today we are no longer trained to listen to faintnuances or use these skills, as we in the urban noise have closed our sens-es as an adaptation and habituation to an urban noisy life.

Gardners (1983) different intelligences can thus be translated to evo-lutionary fitness components of the human mind, and have probablystrongly influenced the evolution of the human brain. In todays urbanworld these different aspects of human intelligences are emancipated andsome are regarded more important than others. This situation again createsa mental disharmony, absorbing energy like the unsynchronized sambabatucada. By leaving this unharmonized urban lifestyle through pursuingfriluftsliv, Gardners different aspects of the human mind can again funci-ton harmoniously, giving a sensation of pleasure and happiness. Thusfriluftsliv, by involving all senses, and in accordance with Gardners differentintelligences and the body and mind, fulfil basic human needs as well asrestore mental and physical harmony. In our urban settings we try to ful-fil this harmonization of the different human needs by artificial means suchas drugs, alcohol, consumption, over training, etc., but we create frustration,

diseases of boredom, belonginglessness and meaninglessness. The qual-ity of life we seek, will not however be found in civilized urban culture,but in our basic biological functions, our natural ecological habitat, in

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nature as an unstructured fractal and complex environment, in our truehome.

Studies made by Grahn, Mrtensson, Lindblad, Nilsson, and Ekman(1997) of childrens preferred play environments show that children prefer

free nature to artificial environments. We feel physically well playing in nat-ural complex movements, and this research has shown a connectionbetween physical and intellectual development. Children who spend lot oftime in natural settings develop better, both physically and mentally, feelbetter, find it easier to concentrate, and suffer less from stress, allergies, etc.All this supports the idea that nature is the natural habitat even for mod-ern urban people. Today most humans live in an uninteresting and unin-spiring artificial world for the human mind and body. Urban life does

not stimulate all of our senses and our different intelligences, or our phys-ical abilities; a form of stress and restlessness is created. Our natural habi-tat probably consists of a complex patchy environment with differentbiotopes to find food in, open areas to find prey, and shelters to hide in(Grahn, 1992). Maybe thats why most of us find a complex natural sur-rounding more aesthetic than an urban or a monocultural setting.

There may also be an evolutionary survival explanation for the closeconnection between sensory and memory processing in the limbic system.

Abram (1996) suggests a close interaction between the sensory interpretationof the world and the memory in the Australian aboriginals Dreamtime.Dreaming songs used by aboriginals as oral maps when travelling the aridlandscape of Australia function as memory tools, oral means of recallingviable routes through the harsh environment. In these Dreaming songs thelandscape itself provides the visual clues for remembering the Dreamtime-stories that guide the tribe to resources of water, shelters, and other landscapefeatures important for their survival, providing a form of ecological mem-ory (Jardine, 1998). Thus the landscape directly interferes, through the lim-bic system, with the memories that are essential for survival. This may be oneexplanation for the deep spiritual experience we feel when we let thelandscape subjectively integrate with our limbic system. It is a basic humanfeature for survival that is lost in our modern objective culture. The strongfeelings experienced when in wilderness may be nothing more than fun-damental survival mechanisms, when the landscape directly interfereswith the brains memory mechanisms, and the synchronization of thelandscape with the brain is experienced as a deep spiritual experience.

As we return to our senses, we gradually discover our sensory perceptionsto be simply our part of a vast, interpenetrating webwork of perceptionsand sensations borne by our countless other bodies . . . This interwined webof experience is, of cause, the life-world. . . nothing other than the



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biospherethe matrix of earthly life in which we ourselves are embedded. . . . the biosphere as it is experienced and lived from within by the intel-ligent bodyby the attentive human animal who is entirely a part of theworld that he, or she, experiences. (Abram, 1996, p. 65)

Friluftsliv in Education

Friluftsliv may have the same ultimate goal as environmental education, butdoes not use any educational institution as educational aid, except natureitselfinsteadfriluftsliv uses wilderness as the university. The overall goalfor both would be a healthy soul in a healthy body in a healthy society ina healthy world, where respect and responsibility would be the new foun-

dation of human interactions.Althoughfriluftsliv may be viewed as a form of environmental edu-

cation, it is an education without a curriculum. Friluftsliv is not outdooreducation. Outdoor education has specific goals described as a place (nat-ural environment), a subject (ecological processes) and a reason (resourcestewardship) for learning (Priest, 1990). Friluftsliv is more like a game (Isberg,1995). To become absorbed by a game one needs imagination and fantasy,which shift you to another level of consciousness. To see that every rock, treeor leaf has its own form and identity, has its own history to tell and its ownright to exist, requires a higher level of consciousness and fantasy. Friluftslivit is not about teaching and lecturing or being on excursions. But it involvesa sort of education, learning the ways of yourself and the place in the more-than-human world and learning the ways of every creature and phenome-non you meet on your journey through life. Traditional environmentaleducation (Weston, 1996) and natural sciences enrich and deepen the expe-riences offriluftsliv, but infriluftsliv the goal is not to become an expert nat-uralist. Ratherfriluftsliv is a link between natural history and philosophy,

linking the knowledge of yourself and the surroundings into the under-standing of the world. Although friluftsliv is on the curriculum inScandinavian and many other educational systems, its goal is usually thatof outdoor education (Priest, 1990) and not the deeper philosophical goalsofgenuine friluftliv.

Modern pedagogic theory often lack roots in human biology and inhumans as a product of the evolutionary and ecological processes. In mostcases pedagogics only focus on the social situation under analysis. Most

pedagogic theory has its roots in a Cartesian dualistic and anthropocentric phi-losophy, denying or ignoring the spiritual connectedness of humans with themore-than-human world. Thus traditional environmental education has anobjectifying scientific approach sustaining our disconnectedness with the

90 Hans Gelter

Friluftsliv: The Scandinavian Philosophy of Outdoor Life

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